The body of a monk who burned himself to death has been paraded through the streets of a town in north-west China by hundreds of Tibetans, it has been reported.

The dead man was the third Tibetan to set fire to himself in three days and the 15th over the last year. The monk – named as 42-year-old Sopa - was from Qinghai province, previously untouched by the spate of self-immolations.

Citing an unnamed source inside Tibet, Radio Free Asia (RFA) reported that he climbed a local hill to burn incense and pray before distributing leaflets saying he would act "not for his personal glory but for Tibet and the happiness of Tibetans".

Another source told RFA that hundreds of Tibetans later marched to the police station in Dari, Golog prefecture, where officials had taken his body. The police initially refused demands to hand over the remains, but relented after protesters smashed windows and doors.

RFA said security in the area was tightened after the incident. It was not possible to verify the protest independently. Calls to the police and government in Dari rang unanswered. But Agence France Presse said official news agency Xinhua had confirmed the death, although they identified the man as Nyage Sonamdrugyu, aged 40.

Most of the previous cases took place in Sichuan province's Aba county, where tensions between authorities and the large Tibetan population have run high since the unrest of 2008.

Witnesses have said several of those who self-immolated chanted for Tibetan freedom and called for the return of the Dalai Lama, their exiled spiritual leader.

In an indication of the growing anxiety among officials, Xinhua announced on Monday that senior officials in Tibet had promised "stepped-up efforts to strengthen the management of monasteries in the fight against the Dalai Lama group".

Basang Toinzhub, a senior political adviser in the region, said advisers would help the government push forward patriotic and legal education among monks and nuns – one of the policies critics say has fostered resentment among the clergy.

His remarks came a day after Chen Quanguo, Tibet's Communist party chief, made a similar promise.